The 200K Club

Have you driven a car to 200,000 miles or beyond? There are a lot of vehicle owners who don't get to see that kind of vehicle longevity and there are many reasons for that. Getting a car into high mileage range takes a solid service routine and a willingness to fix what ever breaks along the way. Properly maintained today's cars are capable of significant vehicle life and a discussion about just what that takes might help a lot of owners.

This Ford Escape just reached the 200K mark. Along the way it needed several repairs which included a valve job at 176K. I'm looking to see this one go well over 500K barring some catastrophic event, time will tell.

Neither of my current vehicles are to 200K just yet, but we routinely ran our cars over 200K. My '66 Chrysler Newport had 228K when I retired it. 9 out of the 14 vehicles we've had since 1979 have been over 230K. Latest one was our 2007 Versa hatch which my oldest daughter still has and it just went over 220K.

Ah, and I should mention that in the almost 2.5 million miles we've combined for on our cars, we've only had two "big" mechanical issues. My Nissan 4x4 had a head gasket spring a leak at 178,000 miles, and a clutch linkage broke on the '96 Sentra just over 200K. Sum total of my "problems"

I don't count the chipmunks chewing on my wiring harness as a "car problem" since the Bucket of Death took care of the critters for me

I got my 96' Grand Am up to 247K miles before transferring it to daughter (her hubby drove it for another year).Don't believe the engine ever had to be opened up, just regular stuff done for the most part. Never drove it under severe conditions so never got that 3000 mile oil thing done, more like close to 6000 miles with properly specified oil. A few kind of weird things that show up with age like both shift cables and some plastic part for cooling system that did not agree with dexcool (not the gasket thing).

Made for a couple interesting moments also from my sometimes cruel mind when the salesman I was talking to about replacement and he asked if I had trade-in '(why yes, the 9 year old manual transmission non air conditioned car with xxx miles I drove in with), let him silently ponder that before telling him I wasn't trading. Sales manager also asked same question, and salesman happy to explain what I had (again to a few moments of silence )

267,000 and still counting. I have to laugh, the Escape appraises somewhere around $2000 now. As far as repairs go there is going to be a continuous battle to control rust. The road salts in the northeast are really doing a number on the body.

Repairs are starting to become more frequent. Since the first post last year in March I have replaced;the rear wiper motor, front hub bearings,rear door glass hinges (salt corrosion) ,blower resistor,rear hatch lift struts, front brakes and rotors,the serpentine belt,and a set of tires.

Maintenance items are;eight engine oil and filter changes,two transmission drain and fill, (about 70% of the fluid each time)Engine and cabin air filters.

The corrosion issues aside the car is in fine working order. If you calculate the total monthly payments for another car, and you total up what the retail value of the repairs and maintenance were, you will see that it has been cheaper to repair than replace. I'll be over 300K before the end of the year with ease and there are no other issues of concern at this time beyond corrosion. The rust through warranty wasn't worth the paper the paper it is printed on. Sacrificing that warranty by having aftermarket under coating applied would have been a wise choice.

I'll keep an eye on that, but the chain is quiet as a mouse, even on cold start-up. Usually you'll get some rattle when cold as a warning.

Those were kind of a weak spot on those small block Mopars. Only reason I mentioned this since it's better to change one on YOUR terms than after it jumps!

I shouldn't have said anything. Now, you're going to be listening.

Please...I'm still catching up on this truck--at over 200K miles, it's the little things that start to pile up on old cars and trucks---I've repaired a broken glove box latch, just replaced the glazed over fog lights with cracked lenses.

Now I have to replace the door locks (auto-lock doesn't work--gears inside strip out, very common), and recharge the AC. Then we'll be 100% again!

With high mileage cars, you have to stay on top of them, or all these little breakages can render the vehicle barely usable even if it does "run" well.

The fog lights were a ROYAL PAIN---obviously, Dodge installed the bumper and headlight assemblies after it inserted the fog lights.

Having run several vehicles to over 200K starting at Mile 1 (my 2001 Altima was used and had 12k when I got it, 228K when I sold it) I'm not sure we'll ever do that again. We still tend to take driving vacations, but a lot of the things that built up miles like kid's sporting events, concerts, and trips to see now-deceased relatives are gone. That, and the wife's commute changed from 48 miles one way to 7 a number of years back, so our total miles/year is nothing like it used to be.

My oldest daughter IS getting close to 200K on her 2007 Versa hatchback. But with a first child due any moment, they're thinking of replacing her car, so the milestone may not be reached.

I'm sure you can still do it though. Just got to stay on top of the maintenance!

Update 1/24/2019. Turned 300,000.This year had to replace the front control arms (includes ball joints and bushings), as mentioned elsewhere the cylinder head was replaced due to a burnt valve. Regular maintenance on the ignition system which means coils and plugs. Replacing the coils protects the PCM since it is the ignition module.

Three drain and fills on the transmission which amounts to six of the nine quarts that it holds each time.Twelve oil and filter changes.

Other than the corrosion issues the car is working just fine.Expect to reach 400,000 sometime in 2020.

323K. Sometimes no matter how well you care for something it simply breaks anyway. The remanufactured cylinder head that was installed had a valve seat loosen and fracture. That put pieces on top of one of the pistons and did some serious damage. So the best solution was to acquire a used engine that had 35,000 miles on it and with about ten hours time between Friday and Saturday it's up and running again.